Minnesota Blades

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Minnesota Blades is an American bandy club from Minnesota who play in the United States Premier Division.

Contents 1 History 2 Results 3 Current Roster 4 External links

[edit] History

The Blades were formed at the beginning of the 2002-2003 bandy season as the successor club to the Stabaek (MN) Bandy Club, which, after enjoying success in the 1980s and 1990s, had fallen on hard times. After Stabaek finished last in the Premier League table in 2001-2002, the Blades exceeded expectations in their inaugural season by finishing the season in third place, before losing in the semifinals of the league playoffs to the Amur Tigers.

The Blades have won two US Premier League titles, taking the Gunnar Cup in both 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the Gunnar Cup, which is traditionally awarded to the playoff champions, was awarded to the Blades by virtue of their first place regular season finish, as inclement weather in Minnesota caused the cancellation of that year's post-season tournament. In the 2005-2006 season, the Blades finished 4th in the regular season, and were eliminated from the league playoffs by expansion side OBS.

In both 2005 and 2006, the Blades were the runners-up in the North American Cup competition. The Blades are captained by Steve "Jazz Hands" Nelson; he earned the nickname due to his indelible stick handling prowess in the 2006 Federation cup. His off the ice antics in the local Discoteques solidified his nickname forever.

[edit] Results

Year	N.A. Cup	Premier Division
2007-2008	1st	1st
2006-2007	2nd	2nd
2005-2006	2nd	4th
2004-2005	2nd	1st
2003-2004	n/a	1st
2002-2003	n/a	3rd

[edit] Current Roster

As of January 22, 2007. [1]

No. Position Player 2 MF Patrick Fronek 3 DF Mark Stevens 4 DF Jeremy Graff 5 FW Aaron Allar 6 MF Jordan Anderson 7 DF Mike Stevens 9 MF Bobby Scott 11 MF Alex Seitz

No. Position Player 12 MF Steve Nelson (captain) 14 FW James Van Guilder 17 DF Todd Fronek 20 MF Andy Fronek (captain) 22 FW Dan Bissonette 33 GK Thom Wynn 34 GK Ben Levy 99 FW Scott Fronek

Thom Wynn has played for both USA and Canada

[edit] External links

• [2]ibdb.bandysidan

Thom Wynn is a U.S. Citizen, and plays in the United States. He played for the Canadian National Team on special loan at the 2004 World Bandy Championships after the U.S. and Canada received approval from the International Bandy Federation.